A Booke of records: of bierthes and burials in Philadelphia in the Province of Penezlvania in Amerrica
Monthly Meeting of Friends of Philadelphia
Genealogy
Society of Friends
Quakers
In the 17th and 18th centuries, Friends generally kept records of the births and deaths of only those who were members. If a child was born to two Quakers in good standing at the time of the birth they were considered "birthright." This volume is unusual because it includes not only members of the Society of Friends, but also, entered separately after 1692, "An Account of the burialls of Such as are not Friends within the town of Philadelphia." Also includes births, 1677-1808, removals received, 1681-1758; acknowledgments, 1695-1698; births, 1783-1827; Deaths, 1806-1826. Indexed.
A Journal of Tours through the United States From August 26, 1819 to May 8, 1857 By Rev. Benjamin Dorr A. M.
Dorr, Benjamin, 1796-1869
Voyages and travels
American Civil War (United States : 1861-1865)
Christ Church (Philadelphia, Pa.)
Steamboats
Reverend Benjamin Dorr served as rector for Christ Church from 1839 to 1868, and undertook the difficult job of holding the congregation together during the Civil War. Dorr traveled extensively throughout his life. This handwritten manuscript contains Dorr's notes about his many travels through the United States from 1819 to 1864. He often traveled through New England, but also visited the mid-Atlantic states, and even ventured into the deep South and as far West as the Green Bay area, stopping in Detroit and Chicago. He traveled by steamboat, stagecoach and horse; stayed with family and friends; dined with persons prominent in the military, church, politics and local businesses; and visited museums, hospitals, libraries, colleges, factories and local historical landmarks. He would sometimes preach and collect money for missionary work. The last entry details his visit to the Army of the Potomac in 1864. A typewritten transcript of this manuscript has also been scanned for this project.
A List of Members Belonging to the Women's Monthly Meeting of Philadelphia, 1793
Quaker women
Most Quaker meetings did not keep membership lists until the 19th century, but urban areas were an exception. Population movement into and out of the City necessitated more documentation.
A List of the Members belonging to the Monthly Meeting of Philadelphia for the Southern District, 1784-1794
Monthly Meeting of Friends of Philadelphia for the Southern District
A List of the Members belonging to the Monthly Meeting of Philadelphia for the Southern District, 1797-1800
A List of the Members of Philadelphia Monthly Meeting, 1773
A List of the Members of Philadelphia Monthly Meeting, 1782
A List of the Members of Philadelphia Monthly Meeting, 1790
Most Quaker meetings did not keep membership lists until the 19th century, but urban areas were an exception. Population movement into and out of the City necessitated more documentation. This list includes the names of more Philadelphia Friends than does the other 1790 list.
A List of the Members of Philadelphia Monthly Meeting, 1800
A Minute Book of Friends their Quarterly and Monthly Metings, 1682-1705
In the 17th and 18th centuries each quarterly meeting met four times a year and included representative of a nyumber of monthly meetings within a given region.It functioned as an intermediary between the local meetings and the Yearly Meeting, served as an appellate body for disciplinary matters, and considered questions too large for one meeting to resolve. This first book of minutes is unusual because it includes both quarterly and monthly business meeting minutes.
Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends. Philadelphia Quarterly Meeting; Monthly Meeting of Friends of Philadelphia
A Record of Friends Certificates of Marriage belonging to the Monthly Meeting of Philadelphia, 1672-1759
Quakers married each other in the presence of witnesses. A marriage certificate was drawn up and signed by those in attendance. This document also included the names of the bride and groom, where the wedding took place, and what monthly meeting oversaw the proceedings. Some certificates list the parents as well. This, the meeting's record of the event, was a copy of the original which was retained by the couple after being recorded.
Congregation Mikveh Israel (Philadelphia, Pa.)
Torah mantles
Jews
Bible. Pentateuch
Liturgical objects
Judaism
Letter to Benjamin Nones, parnas (president) of Mikveh Israel, from Abigail De Lyon, dated October 2, 1795. This letter accompanied the gift of "a mantle, cover & pharsha for the Seapher," presented by Mr. David M Phillips. A pharsha/parsha/parashah is a division of the Torah, and the Seapher/Sefer Torah is a handwritten copy of the Pentateuch, used in ritual readings.
Pews and pew rights
Synagogues
Church discipline
Written complaint made by Abraham E. Israel, shamas (warden or sexton) of Mikveh Israel, to Zalegman Phillips, parnass (president), and against Joseph I. Andrews, dated April 13, 1825. During the last day of Pesah, Mr. Israel told Mr. Andrews' sisters, who had been sitting in the front seats of the synagogue, that they had to move. Mr. Andrews took offense to this.
Churchwardens' accounts
Church finance
Church buildings
Cemeteries
Charity
Poor
Episcopalians
St. Peter's Church (Philadelphia, Pa.)
United Churches of Christ-Church and St. Peter's (Philadelphia, Pa.)
United Churches of Christ-Church, St. Peter's, and St. James's (Philadelphia, Pa.)
Episcopal Church
Record of expenditures by Christ Church and the United Episcopal Churches, from 1708 through 1833. Expenses noted include: firewood and candles; wine and bread for communion; supplies and workmen for building repairs and upkeep of the burial grounds; charitable assistance to the poor; and salaries for church employees such as the minister, sexton, organist, and Sunday school superintendent.
Church records and registers
St. George's Methodist Church (Philadelphia, Pa.)
Methodists
Methodist Church
"A Book... For the Collections & etc. to Defray the Expences of the Methodist Meeting House." Entries are listed by date, starting on August 21, 1769 and ending on July 14, 1774. Date ranges span two pages, with amounts collected on the verso and amounts spent, along with the items or services paid for, on the recto. Listed expenses include: travel, such as hiring horses and paying for room and board; supplies such as candles, nails, wood, paper, clothing, and wine; and services such as laundry, housekeeping, printing, mail, and the drawing up of legal documents.
Church fund raising
Record of "various accounts" for St. George's Methodist Church from April 1787 to April 1795, including "cash on account of poor" as well as bonds, incidental charges, interests, collections, and payments to individuals.
Synagogues--Finance
Account books
Synagogue records and registers
Synagogue fund raising
The majority of this book serves as a record of sundry accounts as drafted by the gabay (a position similar to a warden or a sexton) of Mikveh Israel, from 1824 to 1857. Accounts covered include seat rents/sales, ground and building rents, offerings and collections, salaries for synagogue employees, cleaning and repair of the synagogue, taxes, the Pennsylvania state lottery, bills for gas and coal, and donations to charity. The inside front cover of the book includes a printed copy of the 1828 act to enable Mikveh Israel to lease a lot in Philadelphia, and the first several pages cover yearly incomes versus expenditures from 1827 to 1856 as well as seat rents from 1824 to 1830. Page numbering then starts over with the gabay's entries.
Record of checks paid by Congregation Mikveh Israel from 1862 to 1910. Each check stub includes a check number, date, payee name, amount, and goods or services purchased. Examples of payments include mortgage interest, charitable donations, and building maintenance and repair.
Account book, donations for building a new synagogue, 1782-1784
Religious facilities
Account ledger recording donations toward the construction of the new Mikveh Israel Synagogue. Pages are numbered chronologically: records start in 1782, from what appears to be the back of the book as scanned, proceed backward through the book until page 28, then continue from what appears to be the front of the book. Entries contain name of donor and amount and date donated.
Record of offerings given or promised to Congregation Mikveh Israel from 1786 to 1788. The book includes an alphabetical index of congregant names in the first two pages, followed by a listing of general offerings by quarter. More detailed records of individuals' offerings span two pages, verso and recto, and the book concludes with outstanding debts and balances.
Record of offerings to Congregation Mikveh Israel from 1857 to 1866. Entries are organized by name and include dates and amounts donated or loaned. There is an alphabetical index of names at the beginning of the book.
Account book, statement of receipts, 1856-1874
Record of funds received by Congregation Mikveh Israel from 1856 to 1874. Entries are organized by date, then names. Payments include seat rents, building rents, offerings and collections, initiation fees, and funeral costs. Note: page numbering starts over twice within the manuscript itself, at images 223 and 383.
Account of a camp meeting, David Dailey, 1819
Camp meetings
Account of a camp meeting held on Tangier Island, in the Chesapeake Bay, in August 1819. Dailey notes the preachers and elders present, their circuits, and what they preached on. The meeting was plagued with heavy rainstorms, but there was still much singing and praying, as described by Dailey.
Dailey, David
Burial records
Regular accounting of "cash received and paid" by St. Peter's from 1831 to 1842. Funds received by the church include ground rents, pew rents, box money, and payment for interments. Expenses paid by the church include salaries for church employees, supplies such as wine and coal, and services such as gardening and building repair.
Regular accounting of "cash received and paid" by St. Peter's from 1842 to 1864. Funds received by the church include ground rents, pew rents, box money, and payment for interments. Expenses paid by the church include salaries for church employees, supplies such as wine and coal, and services such as gardening and building repair.
Second Presbyterian Church (Philadelphia, Pa.)
Charters
Presbyterians
American Revolution (1775-1783)
Church management
Presbyterian Church
During the American Revolution, the trustees of the Second Presbyterian Church found it difficult to gather the quorum required by their original charter in order to conduct church business. They also desired the freedom to hold property in a greater amount than allowed for in the original charter. This document reaffirms the charter of Second Presbyterian Church in the City of Philadelphia, while also allowing for a smaller quorum and increased investments.
Address fromChrist Church to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts in favour of Mr. Sturgeon, 1746
Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts (Great Britain)
Sturgeon, William, -1770
Religious education
African Americans
Draft or copy of an address from the Churchwardens and Vestry of Christ Church, Philadelphia to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. The letter expresses gratitude for the Society's decision to establish a catechistical lecture for the instruction of African Americans ("Negroes") and others, providing a salary of 30 pounds per annum. It also formally recommends William Sturgeon, a graduate of Yale College, to fill the role of catechist and assistant to the Rector, Dr. Robert Jenney, in order to further the religious education of the congregation and others.
Agreement to remove burials to Mount Moriah Cemetery, 1860
First Baptist Church (Philadelphia, Pa.)
Baptists
Mount Moriah Cemetery was established in 1855, on the outskirts of Philadelphia. As the population grew and land in Philadelphia became scarcer and more valuable, many churches had their burials removed to more rural locations. After moving to a new building to accommodate their growing congregation, First Baptist Church made the decision to remove their burials from the cemetery on Arch Street to Mount Moriah in 1860. This manuscript documents the agreement between the Trustees of First Baptist and a Mr. William Brown that Mr. Brown would "in a good workmanlike manner and according to the best of his art and skill" remove all remains to Mount Moriah. In 2016, human remains were uncovered at the Arch Street site by a construction crew. The effort to identify and re-inter those remains are documented at archstbones.org.
Alphabetical list with sundry names to be inquired about, 1894
First Presbyterian Church (Philadelphia, Pa.)
Church membership
Bound manuscript with "alphabetical list of sundry names to be inquired about." Dates ranging from 1774 to 1803 are penciled in next to the names, which are written in ink. Also included is a letter dated November 17th, 1894 from a researcher interested in "Pennsylvania's early citizens" and listing approximately 90 names connected with First Presbyterian. Numbers penciled in next to the names refer to the page numbers of the bound manuscript on which the name can be found.
Record of seat rentals for Congregation Mikveh Israel from 1827 to 1844. Entries are listed by seat number, and include the name of the purchaser or renter, and yearly rent paid.
Record of seat rentals for Congregation Mikveh Israel from 1845 to 1862. Seats are grouped by location and class; entries are listed by seat number and include the name of the purchaser or renter and yearly rent paid.
Parish missions
Sweden
Gloria Dei Church (Philadelphia, Pa.)
Lutherans
American Revolution (United States : 1775-1783)
Swedes
United States--Delaware River Valley
Lutheran Church
Archivum Americanum contains summaries, extracts and copies of correspondence between the archbishop and consistory of Upsal in Sweden and the missionaries sent to Swedish parishes along the Delaware river, including churches in Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New Jersey. Entries date from 1724 through approximately 1786, but begin with a "Prefatory Note" dated 1891. Topics include but are not limited to: requests to replace pastors who have passed away, opinions on the use of English in liturgy, personal controversies, official meeting minutes, and the welfare of members during the American Revolutionary war. A register of the members of various parishes makes up the rear portion of the volume. Some pages are in Swedish.
Articles of Agreement regarding windows overlooking Christ Church Burial Ground, 1817
Real property
Windows
Servitudes
Articles of Agreement submitted to the corporation regarding properties adjacent to the burial ground. The subscribers, who are owners of property bounding the Christ Church Burial Ground, formally agree that windows they have opened looking upon the burial ground are by permission of the church, and they claim no permanent right to them.
Park, Samuel
Sansom, William, 1763-1840
Detailed account of money spent and received by Congregation Mikveh Israel; the first 20 pages are of a slightly smaller size, which have been inserted into the bound manuscript and contain balances from 1858 to 1876. A few notes and receipts from that timeframe have been inserted into the following pages. The second half of the book contains a detailed accounting of expenses and receipts from 1900 to 1908, which pages are numbered according to the page numbers in the record itself.
Baptism certificate of Sarah Sallows, 1762
Baptismal records
Baptism and church membership
Baptism certificate listing a series of questions about the baptismal candidate's beliefs and commitments, to which she has answered yes. On this profession, Sarah Sallows was baptized by Morgan Edwards in the Schuylkill River on June 22, 1762. Sarah's last name is difficult to discern in this document; she is listed as added to the membership in 1762, with much clearer handwriting, in the Register, 1746-1824.
Baptisms and burials, 1790-1826, bulk 1796-1806
Holy Trinity Catholic Church (Philadelphia, Pa.)
Catholics
Record of baptisms and burials undertaken by Holy Trinity from 1790 to 1826. The manuscript is in Latin. The first page of the manuscript lists the Trustees of Holy Trinity from 1819 to 1826. Next is a summary of the numbers of "baptismi" (baptisms), "sepultura" (burials) and "matrimonia" (marriages) performed by each "pastore" (shepherd, reverend) from 1790 to 1823. A chronological list of the baptisms performed by Reverend Wilhelmus Elling from 1799 to 1806 begins on image 9 and runs through image 82. Each entry includes name, date of birth, date of baptism, parents' names and names of sponsors. Some entries include the signatures of the parents and sponsors. Image 83 lists all the infants who were buried in 1806. A chronological listing of burials from 1796 to 1798 takes up the remainder of the manuscript. Entries include the date of death, and sometimes place of death.
Baptisms and marriages, 1758-1768, Rev. Ferdinand Farmer
St. Joseph's Church (Philadelphia, Pa.)
Marriage records
Baptism and marriage register of Jesuit Father Rev. Ferdinand Steinmeyer (Farmer), who came to the colonies in 1752 to minister to German Catholics. He served at St. Joseph's in Philadelphia from 1758 until his death in 1786. In Latin. Note: Some page scans are missing, photographs have been inserted as placeholders until the book can be re-scanned.
Farmer, Ferdinand, 1720-1786
Baptisms and marriages, 1769-1786, Rev. Ferdinand Farmer
Baptism and marriage register of Jesuit Father Rev. Ferdinand Steinmeyer (Farmer), who came to the colonies in 1752 to minister to German Catholics. He served at St. Joseph's in Philadelphia from 1758 until his death in 1786. In Latin.
Baptisms and marriages, 1773-1786, Rev. Robert Molyneux
Baptism and marriage register of Jesuit missionary Father Robert Molyneux, who became pastor of Old St. Joseph's and Old St. Mary's in 1771. Records appear in both the front and rear of this volume. In Latin.
Molyneux, Robert, 1738-1808
Register of baptisms, almost entirely in Latin.
Baptisms recorded by Nicholas Collin, Director of the Swedish Churches in Pennsylvania, from 1804 to 1878. Each entry includes the date of baptism, name of the person baptized, his or her date of birth, parents' names, and other information such as whether the baptism was conducted in a private home, the names of known extended family members, adults' occupations and countries of birth, and concerns about the family's financial situation or behavior.
Baptisms, burials, and marriages, 1750-1789, and records of pastors, 1733-1758
Registers of births, etc.
Clergy
Record of baptisms, burials and marriages performed by Gloria Dei from 1750 to 1789. Entries are not in strict order, and page numbering starts over several times. Records look to be batched by the pastor performing the ceremony as well as by date, and indexes are found throughout, paged in lowercase roman numerals. Baptismal records are found on images 5-67 (1750-1780) and 191-203 (1780-1788). Burial records from are found on images 2-4 (1787-1789) and 177-190 (1750-1776). Marriage records from are found on images 4-5 (1778); 68-158 (1750-1779); and 169-175 (1779-1780); and 204-237 (1779-1789). Although the vast majority of records in this bound volume are baptisms, burials and marriages, images 158 to 168 include accounts of the experiences of several early pastors of Gloria Dei in the 1730s, 1740s and 1750s. These pages include notes from meetings with the congregation and vestry. Some entries are written in Swedish.
Baptisms, Christ Church and St. Peter's Church, 1763-1810
Record of baptisms performed at Christ Church and St. Peter's from 1763 to 1810. Entries are listed by date and include the name of the person baptized, parents' names if that person is a child, and the person's birthdate. The reverend who performed the baptism is listed at the bottom of each page; notes are inserted for baptisms performed by other church officials. Private baptisms performed from 1801 to 1810 are listed in the last ten pages of the book. Please note there are some irregularities in page numbering at pages 64/65 and 345/346.
Record of baptisms performed at Christ Church from 1829 to 1868. Baptisms are listed by date and include the name of the baptized person, parents' names, sponsor, birthdate, and officiating minister.
Baptisms, Christ Church, St. Peter's Church, and Saint James's Church, 1811-1831
Record of baptisms performed at the United Protestant Episcopal Churches of Christ Church, Saint Peter's Church and Saint James's Church, as well as private baptisms performed by the reverends of those churches, from 1811 to 1831. Baptisms are listed by date, grouped by congregation or reverend, and include the name of the person baptized, parents' names if that person was a child, and the person's birthdate.
Baptisms, marriages, and burials, 1796-1806
Record of baptisms, marriages and burials in the congregation of Holy Trinity from 1796 to 1806. Most entries are in Latin or French. Baptisms are listed chronologically from images 11 to 28, then from images 33 to 39. Baptismal records include the date, name of person baptized, pastor, parents, and sponsors. A name index for baptismal records begins on image 91. Some burial information, including the interment of infants and paupers, can be found interspersed in the baptismal records, from images 23 to 25. The names of congregants buried at Holy Trinity are listed by date on images 29 to 32. Marriages records, some quite detailed, are recorded in images 41 to 90.
Baptisms, marriages, and burials, Christ Church, 1709-1718
Church of England
Record of baptisms, marriages, and burials at Christ Church between 1709 and 1718, kept by clerk John Ashton. Pages containing baptism records are numbered pages 5 to 47; pages containing marriages are numbered pages 70 to 87; and pages containing burial records are numbered pages 123 to 158. Baptism records include the name of the person baptized, parents' names if that person is a child, age at time of baptism and date of baptism. Marriage records include the names of the bride and groom and the date of the marriage. Burial records include the name of the decedent and date of burial; often the names of parents or spouses are listed also.
Baptisms, marriages, and burials, Christ Church, 1719-1750
Record of marriages, christenings/baptisms, and burials at Christ Church from 1719 to 1750. All events from 1719 to 1724 are recorded together by date from pages 1 to 27. There is a gap in page numbering, then all marriages from 1725 to 1750 are recorded by date from pages 34 to 73. There is another gap in page numbering, then all christenings/baptisms are recorded by date from pages 104 to 179. There is a final gap in page numbering, then all burials from 1725 to 1750 are listed by date from pages 189 to 264.